1)  lllllllll  Ij 

III  l(j  j  1 

= 

I  Cyrus  I 

Iamlin  | 

■  D.D.,  I 

X.D.  U 

■  MISSIONARY,  STATE 

SMAN,  INVENTOR  m 

M  A  Life  > 

Sketch  i  i  9 

HI  BY 

HH 

■  A.  R.  THA 

IN,  D.D.  m 

PUBLISHl 

VD  BY  S 

AMERICAN  BOARD  01 

?  COMMISSIONERS 

FOR  FOREIGN 

MISSIONS  = 

BOSTON, 

MASS.  gl 

il 

H 

FOREWORD 

ULGARIA  is  chief  among  the  Allies  who 
have  made  successful  war  on  Turkey. 
And  the  leaders  of  Bulgaria  are  to  a  sur¬ 
prising  extent  graduates  of  Robert  Col¬ 
lege  At  Constantinople.  The  indebtedness  of  this 
Balkan  state  to  an  institution  founded,  governed, 
and  maintained  by  Americans  is  recognized  in  both 
countries.  The  United  States  government  has  ac¬ 
knowledged  that  its  relations  with  Bulgaria  are 
assured  because  of  what  Americans  have  done  for 
that  land  by  their  schools  and  missionary  labors. 

But  if  modern  Bulgaria  be  traced  back  to  Robert 
College,  that  institution  is  interwoven  with  the 
career  of  Cyrus  Hamlin,  its  first  president,  and  be¬ 
fore  that  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board  in 
Turkey.  Many  have  read  his  autobiography  and 
know  of  the  charm  of  his  personality  and  the  fasci¬ 
nation  of  his  life  story.  For  those  who  for  any  rea¬ 
son  are  not  likely  to  peruse  that  volume  from  his 
own  pen,  Dr.  A.  R.  Thain  has  with  rare  skill  fur¬ 
nished  this  condensed  account  of  Dr.  Hamlin. 

We  commend  this  story  of  a  great  life.  It  will 
specially  appeal  to  the  young  man  in  college  or 
seminary,  and  to  the  mature  business  and  profes¬ 
sional  man.  Pastors  can  render  the  men  of  their 
congregations  a  real  service  by  wisely  circulating 
this  pamphlet  with  an  introductory  note  or  word. 

W.  E.  S. 


[2] 


CYRUS  HAMLIN,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

By  A.  R.  Thain,  D.D. 

The  American  Board  and  Cyrus  Hamlin  were 
born  only  six  months  apart.  The  Board  was  born 
at  Bradford,  Massachusetts,  June  29,  1810,  and 
Cyrus  Hamlin  was  born  at  Waterford,  Maine,  Janu¬ 
ary  5,1811.  The  infancy  of  the  Board  was  very  short. 
It  drank  of  the  brook  in  the  way — God’s  brook — 
lifted  up  its  head  and  looked  on  world-wide  fields 
white  already  to  harvest,  and  ordained  the  first  for¬ 
eign  missionaries  ever  sent  out  from  America,  on  the 
next  day  after  the  birth  of  Cyrus  Hamlin.  He  had 


[3] 


a  longer  infancy,  but  we  shall  soon  see  that  he 
showed  a  genius  for  doing  things  when  he  was  quite 
young.  If  not  a  Hercules  in  the  cradle,  he  was  a 
Hamlin,  and  early  in  life — as  well  as  in  his  mature 
strength — he  could  strangle  the  serpents  of  cir¬ 
cumstance  with  strong  grip. 

THE  HAMLIN  ANCESTRY 

The  Hamlins  were  descended  from  the  Hugue¬ 
nots,  and  the  Huguenots  are  the  Yankees  of  France, 
skillful,  liberty-loving,  and  resourceful.  Before  the 
Revolutionary  War  the  grandfather  of  Cyrus  — 
Eleazer  Hamlin — dwelt  in  Massachusetts,  a  man  of 
large  family  and  large  ideas.  He  had  seventeen  chil¬ 
dren,  and  one  by  one  as  they  were  born  he  claimed 
the  continents  of  the  earth  for  his  family;  at  least, 
in  selecting  names  for  his  sons.  His  first-born  son  was 
named  Africanus,  the  second  Americus,  the  third 
Asiaticus,  and  the  fourth  Europus.  Having — nom¬ 
inally —  conquered  all  the  continents  of  the  world, 
he  next  began  to  name  his  sons  after  famous  con¬ 
querors.  Twin  sons  invaded  the  world  as  though 
they  could  not  wait  for  separate  sequential  births, 
and  together  they  went  forth  to  conquer,  bearing  the 
great  names  of  Cyrus  and  Hannibal.  Of  these  twin 
brothers,  Hannibal  served  his  generation  in  various 
honorable  ways,  but  chiefly  by  giving  to  the  world 
a  son,  that  Cyrus  who  was  destined  to  win  inter¬ 
continental  reputation  by  eminent  missionary  labors. 


[4] 


Three  of  Eleazer’s  sons  fought  in  the  Revolutionary 
War  to  the  end,  and  as  a  reward  for  such  faithful 
service  the  Massachusetts  legislature  gave  to  the 
father  a  considerable  tract  of  land  in  the  “District 
of  Maine.”  But  it  proved  to  be,  like  the  gifts  of  the 
Grecians,  dangerous  to  deal  with.  Though  it  was  not 
filled  with  hostile  men,  like  the  famous  wooden 
horse,  yet  it  abounded  in  predacious  bears.  It  was 
so  sterile,  rocky,  and  wild  that  it  could  produce  noth¬ 
ing  except  spruce  trees  and  bears. 

But  four  of  Eleazer  Hamlin’s  sons  also  received 
grants  of  land,  in  Waterford,  Maine,  where  the  soil 
was  better  and  the  bears  were  not  so  numerous ;  and 
there  Hannibal  cleared  a  piece  of  land  in  1799—1800, 
and,  after  building  a  house  and  barn,  went  to  Acton, 
Massachusetts,  and  was  joined  in  marriage  to  Susan 
Faulkner,  the  beautiful  daughter  of  Colonel  Faulk¬ 
ner,  a  soldier  of  Revolutionary  fame. 

Four  children  were  born  to  them :  Susan,  Rebecca, 
Hannibal,  and  Cyrus.  When  Cyrus  was  seven  months 
old  his  father  died,  leaving  to  the  care  of  the  widow 
two  farms,  two  girls,  and  two  boys,  the  youngest 
having  so  large  a  head  compared  with  his  frail  body 
that  the  Cassandras  of  the  neighborhood  warned  his 
mother  that  she  must  “never  expect  to  raise  that 
child.” 

But,  like  that  Cyrus  named  in  the  Bible,  of  whom 
God  said,  “whose  right  hand  I  have  holden  to  sub¬ 
due  nations  before  him,”  the  feeble  infant  born  in 

[5] 


f 


Maine  had  been  raised  up  for  a  special  purpose,  and 
during  nine  victorious  decades  he  showed  ability, 
God  enabling  him,  to  “break  in  pieces  the  gates  of 
brass,  and  cut  asunder  the  bars  of  iron.” 

EARLY  SCHOOLING 

Cyrus  was  in  school  all  the  time,  ever  learning 
and  ever  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
His  first  school  was  that  Maine  farm ;  his  first 
teacher  was  his  mother;  and  his  constant  teacher 
was  Mother  Nature,  stern  yet  kindly.  She  taught 
him  even  how  to  fall  downstairs — to  his  advantage. 
When  he  was  between  three  and  four  years  old  he 
rolled  downstairs  one  day,  and  John  Atherton,  the 
fun-loving  hired  man  who  had  just  come  from  the 
hayfield  with  a  delicious  bumblebee  honeycomb  in 
his  hand,  picked  up  the  bawling,  black  and  blue  boy, 
gave  him  the  honeycomb,  and  told  him  that  he  could 
have  another  honeycomb  if  he  should  fall  down  that 
flight  of  stairs  again.  Whether  intentionally  or  not, 
the  boy  took  two  post-graduate  courses  down  those 
stairs  before  sundown.  He  was  covered  with  bruises, 
but  he  received  as  rewards  the  Homeric  laughter  of 
John  Atherton  and  three  honeycombs.  His  .falls 
from  that  time  on  were  falls  upstairs ;  and  that 
full  hive  of  bitter-sweet  experiences,  “My  Life  and 
Times,”  shows  that  he  could  extract  something 
sweeter  than  even  the  famed  honey  of  Hymettus 
from  the  wormwood  and  rue  of  Turkish  duplicity. 


[6] 


SUBJECTS  FOR  ECLOGUES 
A  series  of  Eclogues,  or  Bucolics,  might  have  been 
written  on  the  fortunes  of  that  Maine  farm  if  a 
Maine  Virgil  had  been  there  to  put  them  into  verse; 
how  Cyrus  and  his  brother,  with  no  better  tool  than 
a  homely  horn-handled  jackknife,  made  sleds  for 
coasting  and  for  drawing  wood;  how,  in  their  early 
teens,  with  a  more  varied  but  still  limited  kit  of  tools, 
they  renewed  the  worn-out  farm  implements,  making 
ox-bows,  yokes,  and  tip-carts  which  called  forth  the 
admiration  of  the  neighbors ;  how  Hannibal  and 
Cyrus  conducted  campaign  after  campaign  of  culti¬ 
vation  over  the  fields  of  that  stony  farm  with  a  suc¬ 
cess  which  did  not  sully  the  fame  of  the  ancient  con¬ 
querors  whose  names  they  bore ;  how,  on  a  certain 
training  day,  when  Mrs.  Hamlin  had  given  Cyrus  seven 
cents  with  which  to  buy  gingerbread,  buns,  or  any¬ 
thing  for  which  his  soul  lusted — with  the  suggestion 
that  he  might  drop  one  or  two  cents  of  it  into  the 
missionary  box  kept  by  Mrs.  Farrer — he,  after 
struggling  with  hunger  and  with  a  difficult  problem 
for  hours,  finally  cast  into  the  Lord’s  treasury  all 
that  he  had,  even  all  his  living,  because  he  did  not 
know  how  to  divide  seven  cents  equally ;  and  how — 
but  time  would  fail  me  to  give  all  the  subjects  of 
the  unwritten  Eclogues,  and  it  will  be  enough  to  say 
that  the  education  of  Cyrus  was  going  on  all  of  the 
time,  in  the  district  school  part  of  the  year  and  on 
the  farm  all  the  year,  fitting  him  for  that  varied 


I'M 


work  which  he  accomplished  in  Turkey,  when  he 
turned  his  ready  hand  to  whatsoever  he  found  to  do 
with  all  his  might  and  with  astonishing  success. 

HIS  APPRENTICESHIP 

When  Cyrus  was  about  sixteen  years  old  it  was 
decided  that  his  head  was  too  large  and  his  body  was 
too  frail  for  farm  work.  Dr.  Gage,  the  wise  family 
physician,  said:  “The  boy  does  not  grow.  He  has 
not  grown  for  three  years.  Farm  work  will  kill  him. 
Give  him  an  education.” 

To  give  him  the  moon  seemed  to  be  as  much  within 
the  reach  of  the  mother  at  that  time ;  and  so  it  was 
decided  that  Cyrus  should  become  a  silversmith  and 
jeweler  in  the  establishment  of  his  brother-in-law, 
Mr.  Charles  Farley,  of  Portland. 

With  a  spirit  as  resolute  as  that  of  Hannibal  when 
he  set  out  to  climb  the  Alps  and  invade  Italy,  the 
brothers  joined  their  forces  for  the  first  day’s  march 
of  that  new  campaign.  On  January  6,  1827,  a  day 
of  storm  and  severe  cold,  with  their  faithful  old 
mare  hitched  to  a  sleigh  containing  the  trunk  of  the 
younger  brother  and  a  load  of  farm  produce  for  the 
Portland  market,  they  covered  forty  miles  in  sixteen 
hours,  arriving  at  Mr.  Farley’s  house  cold,  hungry, 
and  tired,  but  happy. 

WAS  IT  A  WASTE  OF  TIME  ? 

Why  did  God  permit  the  future  missionary  to 
spend  two  years  and  four  months  of  his  valuable  life 


[8] 


in  the  shop  of  a  silversmith?  For  the  same  reason 
that  He  permitted  an  earlier  missionary  to  learn  the 
trade  of  tent-making.  It  was  part  of  his  education. 
Like  other  men  of  note  he  was  to  receive  a  composite 
education:  intentional  and  providential,  human  and 
divine.  He  was  the  Lord’s  apprentice,  and  the  Mas¬ 
ter  Worker  of  the  universe  saw  that  the  skill  which 
Cyrus  gained  in  the  use  of  tools  could  be  turned  to  a 
useful  purpose,  not  only  then,  but  many  years  after¬ 
ward  on  the  shore  of  the  Bosphorus. 

Twenty-five  or  thirty  years  later,  when  Dr.  Ham¬ 
lin  walked  through  the  streets  of  Constantinople  or 


ROBERT  COLLEGE — FROM  THE  WATER 


[9] 


along  the  heights  where  Robert  College  was  to  stand, 
his  hat  covered  the  dome  of  a  polytechnic  institute ; 
for  he  became  master  of  an  astonishing  variety  of 
trades,  all  of  which  he  could  use  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  good  of  humanity.  He  could  drive  more  than 
a  dozen  trades,  tandem  or  abreast,  as  the  case  might 
require;  but  they  never  ran  away  with  him,  never 
turned  him  aside  from  the  leading  purpose  of  his  life, 
the  advancement  of  Christian  education. 

One  of  Dr.  Hamlin’s  admirers  once  said,  half  in 
jest  and  half  in  earnest,  that  he  was  proficient  in 
sixteen  trades  and  professions  ;  and  in  his  book,  “My 
Life  and  Times,”  he  permitted  his  humor  to  add  to 
this  seeming  exaggeration  by  intimating  that  in  this 
enumeration  Dr.  Bartol  probably  did  not  reckon 
some  of  the  trades  which  he  learned  that  he  might 
minister  to  the  needs  of  sick  soldiers  during  the 
Crimean  War.  Some  of  them  were  strange  trades; 
but  in  educating  men  for  their  work  God  often  as¬ 
signs  to  them  tasks  which,  for  the  time,  may  seem  to 
be  interruptions  of  their  life  career,  but  are  after¬ 
wards  seen  to  be  important  parts  of  their  training. 

AN  IMPORTANT  TURNING  POINT 

The  most  important  event  in  the  life  of  Cyrus 
Hamlin  was  when  he  turned  to  Christ  as  his  per¬ 
sonal  Saviour,  and  united  with  the  church  of  which 
Dr.  Edward  Payson  was  pastor.  At  that  time 
Mr.  Hamlin  was  attending  an  evening  school  for 


[  10] 


apprentices,  and  he  also  began  to  study  the  Bible 
and  religious  books  with  great  earnestness.  A  proof 
of  the  maturity  of  his  mind  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  he 
turned  with  eagerness  to  the  works  of  Jonathan 
Edwards,  and  the  thoughts  of  that  great  theologian 
passed  like  iron  into  his  blood. 

The  young  apprentice  began  to  attract  attention 
as  a  writer  and  speaker.  In  competition  with  his 
fellow-apprentices  who  attended  the  night  school,  he 
took  a  prize  for  the  best  essay  on  Profane  Swearing. 
He  was  much  surprised,  soon  after  the  production 
of  this  essay,  when  Deacon  Isaac  Smith  asked  him  if 
he  had  ever  thought  that  it  might  be  his  duty  to 
prepare  for  the  ministry.  He  had  never  thought  of 
it  as  a  probability,  and  when  Mr.  Smith  and  others 
began  to  urge  him  to  consider  the  matter,  he  saw  two 
serious  difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  a  course :  he 
had  three  years  yet  to  serve  as  apprentice  in  the 
shop  of  Mr.  Farley,  and  he  did  not  see  where  the 
money  could  be  secured  to  carry  him  through  nine 
years  of  study. 

In  deciding,  as  he  did,  to  study  for  the  ministry  if 
the  way  should  be  opened,  he  was  influenced  in  favor 
of  such  a  course  by  that  long  series  of  Resolutions 
which  President  Edwards  had  set  up  along  the  Ap- 
pian  Way  of  Duty,  as  he  saw  it,  of  which  this  is  one: 

“ Resolved ,  To  do  whatever  I  think  to  be  my  duty, 
and  most  for  the  good  and  advantage  of  mankind  in 
general.” 


[  ll  1 


When  the  struggle  which  was  going  on  in  his  mind 
became  known,  Mr.  Farley  released  him  from  the 
terms  of  his  apprenticeship,  and  Dr.  Payson’s 
church  voted  to  assist  him  in  securing  an  education. 

And  so,  eighteen  years  and  four  months  old,  with 
the  love  of  God  in  his  heart,  with  a  good  degree  of 
mechanical  skill  at  the  ends  of  his  fingers,  with  a 
small  sum  of  money  in  his  pocket,  with  Edwardsian 
Resolutions  in  his  note-book,  with  “an  excellent 
spirit”  and  an  excellent  spine  “in  him,”  he  started 
for  Brighton  Academy  to  begin  another  stage  of  his 
education. 

BRIGHTON  ACADEMY  AND 
BOWDOIN  COLLEGE 

Certain  Hamlinesque  qualities  of  mind  and  charac¬ 
ter  developed  strength  during  his  academic  days.  He 
gave  himself  to  plain  living  and  strenuous  thinking. 
He  learned  the  first  book  of  the  JEneid  so  well  that  he 
could  repeat  it  without  the  text  from  beginning  to 
end.  He  sometimes  studied  from  five  in  the  morning 
until  ten  at  night,  breakfasting  on  mathematics,  din¬ 
ing  on  dead  languages,  and  supping  on  science,  try¬ 
ing  to  crowd  two  years  of  study  into  one ;  but  taking 
thought — of  that  kind — did  not  hinder  him  from 
adding  more  inches  to  his  physical  stature  that  year 
than  in  any  previous  year  of  his  life. 

Cyrus  Hamlin  not  only  profited  by  the  studies  of 
his  college  course,  but  he  added  something  to  his 


[  12] 


studies  which  was  not  a  part  of  the  curriculum,  a 
providential  elective,  as  his  after  life  revealed.  One 
day  Professor  Smyth  delivered  a  lecture  on  the  steam 
engine  to  Hamlin’s  class,  not  one  of  whom,  perhaps, 
had  ever  seen  a  steam  engine.  Those  were  the  days 
of  the  stagecoach  and  the  ox  team.  After  the  lecture 
he  said  to  Professor  Smyth,  “I  believe  I  could  make 
an  engine  that  would  make  any  one  see  its  working.” 

The  professor  replied,  “I  think  you  can  make  any¬ 
thing  you  undertake,  Hamlin,  and  I  wish  you  would 
try.” 

He  did  try,  and  succeeded.  He  took  a  vacation  of 
two  or  three  months,  read  Lardner  on  the  steam  en¬ 
gine,  secured  the  use  of  a  shop  and  tools  in  Portland, 
and  by  working  ten,  twelve,  and  sometimes  fifteen 
hours  each  day,  he  built  a  steam  engine — not  a  mere 
toy,  but  a  working  model  sufficiently  large  to  be  of 
real  service  as  a  part  of  the  philosophical  apparatus 
of  the  college.  He  received  in  payment  $175,  only 
part  of  its  cost  if  labor  of  hand  and  brain  were  fully 
estimated,  but  it  was  part  of  his  fitting  to  be  a  cap¬ 
tain  of  industry  years  afterwards,  when  he  was  mak¬ 
ing  flour,  making  bread,  and  making  men. 

SEMINARY  LIFE  AND  PREACHING 

After  completing  his  studies  in  Bowdoin  College, 
Mr.  Hamlin  went  to  Bangor  Seminary  to  take  his 
theological  course.  He  had  already  decided  that  he 
would  work  for  the  Lord  on  foreign  soil;  but  the 


[13] 


world  is  large:  in  what  part  of  it  should  he  labor? 
China  was  his  first  choice,  and  Africa  was  his  second, 
but  the  predestination  of  Providence  was  fitting  him 
for  work  “ Among  the  Turks” — the  title  of  one  of 
his  books — though  that  fact  did  not  come  within  the 
horizon  of  his  vision  for  a  number  of  years. 

During  his  third  year  in  the  seminary  Mr.  Hamlin 
applied  to  the  Board  for  missionary  service,  stat¬ 
ing  his  preference  for  China  or  Africa  as  fields  of 
labor.  In  February  of  that  year  he  received  a  letter 
from  the  Board,  appointing  him  to  Constantinople 
and  to  education.  The  news  was  surprising.  The 
experience  was  somewhat  like  that  of  Ezekiel,  when, 
in  the  vision  of  God,  he  seemed  to  be  transported 
through  space  and  brought  to  the  city  of  Jerusalem. 
To  be  taken  by  the  Spirit  and  transported  half 
around  the  world  in  an  instant,  from  Canton  to  Con¬ 
stantinople,  almost  took  away  the  breath  of  the 
modern  Ezekiel;  but  he  had  enough  breath  left  to 
enable  him  to  hasten  to  his  room,  where  he  shut  him¬ 
self  up  with  the  Lord  that  he  might,  with  the  aid  of 
the  Spirit,  re-orient  himself. 

It  did  not  take  long.  Like  Constantine  of  old,  he 
spread  the  map  of  the  eastern  world  before  him,  put 
his  finger  on  the  short  strait  which  connects  the 
Black  Sea  with  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and  concluded 
that  it  was  a  strategic  point  of  great  importance.  “It 
means  a  good  work,”  he  said;  “excellent  and  noble 
associates,  Goodell,  Dwight,  Schauffler,  Holmes,  and, 


[14] 


at  Brousa,  Schneider  and  Powers.”  He  accepted  the 
assignment  of  Providence  with  joyful  alacrity. 

And  with  like  joyful  alacrity  he  wished  that  three 
desired  events  might  come  to  him  soon  after  com¬ 
pleting  his  seminary  course :  to  marry,  to  be  or¬ 
dained,  and  to  depart  for  Constantinople. 

But  the  officers  of  the  Board  informed  him  that  for 
various  reasons  he  could  not  be  sent  at  once,  and  the 
months  of  waiting  extended  into  a  year’s  delay.  He 
did  not  wait  in  idleness,  but  preached  in  various 
churches  as  temporary  supply,  and  was  invited  to 
become  the  pastor  of  the  Union  Church  in  Worces¬ 
ter  ;  but  he  steadfastly  set  his  face  to  go  to  Con¬ 
stantinople. 

On  September  3,  1828,  he  was  married  to  Henri¬ 
etta  Loraine  Jackson,  and  one  month  later  they  sailed 
for  Constantinople,  arriving  in  the  city  on  the 
29th  of  January,  1829. 

OBSTACLES 

The  first  need  of  a  missionary  is  that  he  should  be¬ 
come  familiar,  as  soon  as  possible,  with  one  or  more 
of  the  languages  used  in  the  country  where  he  is  to 
labor ;  but  Mr.  Hamlin  soon  discovered  that  the  rep¬ 
resentatives  of  Turkey  and  Russia  were  trying  to  lay 
an  embargo  on  language.  He  might  speak  English, 
but  he  must  remain  tongue-tied  as  to  Armenian  and 
Turkish  if  craft  and  force  could  prevent  him  from 
acquiring  those  languages.  His  first  Armenian 


[15] 


teacher  had  to  flee  for  his  life.  Mesrobe,  his  second 
teacher,  was  an  accomplished  Russian  Armenian,  but 
soon  after  Mr.  Hamlin  began  to  profit  by  his  valu¬ 
able  instruction  the  long  arm  of  despotic  Russia 
captured  him,  with  the  connivance  of  the  Turkish 
officials,  and  he  would  have  been  sent  to  Siberia  had 
he  not  escaped  before  reaching  Russian  soil.  The 
group  of  missionaries  in  Constantinople  were  natu¬ 
rally  indignant  that  Russia  should  turn  her  hand 
against  them  in  such  a  way,  and  Dr.  Schauffler,  as 
their  representative,  hastened  to  the  palace  of  the 
Russian  ambassador,  and  entered  a  protest  against 
the  deportation  of  Mr.  Hamlin’s  teacher ;  but  Am¬ 
bassador  Boutineff  haughtily  replied,  44 1  might  as 
well  tell  you,  Mr.  Schauffler,  that  the  emperor  of 
Russia,  who  is  my  master,  will  never  allow  Protestant¬ 
ism  to  set  foot  in  Turkey.” 

But  Dr.  Schauffler,  not  at  all  crushed  b}7  such 
mighty  manners  —  for  he  outranked  Boutineff,  being 
the  ambassador  of  Christ — bowed  low  to  the  Rus¬ 
sian  ambassador  and  said,  with  equal  dignity  and  with 
better  backing,  44  Your  Excellency,  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  who  is  my  Master,  will  never  ask  the  emperor 
of  Russia  where  it  may  set  its  foot.” 

Mr.  Hamlin  had  come  from  the  land  of  David 
Crockett,  where  obstacles  cannot  long  hinder  prog¬ 
ress.  He  was  sure  that  he  was  right  and  went 
ahead,  in  spite  of  Russia  and  Turkey.  Sooner  might 
they  dam  the  flow  of  the  Dardanelles  than  stop  the 


[16] 


progress  of  pure  religion.  The  one  has  the  push  of 
the  seas  behind  it,  but  the  other  responds  to  the  pull 
of  Omnipotence. 

BEBEK  SEMINARY 

Mr.  Hamlin’s  first  foothold  for  effective  service 
was  Bebek  Seminary.  It  was  one  of  the  most  unique 
institutions  ever  established,  as  to  means  of  support 
and  modes  of  training.  It  was  designed  to  promote 
the  education  of  advanced  students  through  the  me¬ 
dium  of  the  English  language,  and  to  use  industrial 
occupations  as  a  source  of  self-support  for  the  stu¬ 
dents  while  pursuing  their  education.  Nothing  unique 
in  that?  Perhaps  not;  but  the  way  in  which  the 
plan  was  carried  through  to  success  was  decidedly 
unique. 

The  search  for  a  site  was  almost  as  difficult  as  the 
capture  of  Constantinople,  when  it  was  taken  by  the 
Turks  in  1453.  The  first  parallel  towards  permanent 
occupation  was  the  renting  of  a  large  house  in  the 
village  of  Bebek,  close  to  Constantinople,  but  far 
enough  removed  to  be  free  from  the  dirt  and  dogs, 
and  from  part  of  the  obstructive  domination  of  that 
city.  Into  this  building  Mr.  Hamlin  moved  on  No¬ 
vember  4,  1840,  taking  with  him  two  students  and 
great  hopes. 

He  at  once  began  to  work  out  the  salvation  of  his 
hopes  with  boldness  and  firm  resolution,  and  God  evi¬ 
dently  wrought  with  him,  to  will  and  to  do  of  his 


[17  1 


good  pleasure.  The  two  students  soon  increased  to 
twelve.  They  were  Armenians,  and  the  Armenian 
priest  secured  a  list  of  their  names,  with  the  intention 
of  breaking  up  the  school  by  force,  but  Mr.  Hamlin 
outflanked  the  movement  by  dismissing  the  students 
for  a  few  weeks  and  sending  them  home,  where, 
headed  by  their  parents,  they  brought  such  influences 
to  bear  on  the  Armenian  patriarch  that  they  soon 
came  back  to  stay,  reenforced  by  two  recruits. 

In  1841  the  seminary  was  removed  to  a  larger 
building  in  the  same  village,  and  the  fourteen  stu¬ 
dents  became  twenty.  In  1848  the  citadel  of  the 
seminary  was  entered,  the  great  house  of  Cheleby 
Yorgaki,  a  man  of  wealth  who  became  the  friend  of 
Mr.  Hamlin,  and  there  he  held  the  fort  for  many 
years  until  he  made  his  final  movement  for  Christian 
education  at  Constantinople,  the  establishment  of 
Robert  College. 

In  the  curriculum  of  the  seminary  the  attainment 
of  the  English  language  was  made  prominent,  and 
there  was  a  thorough  course  in  mathematics,  phys¬ 
ics,  chemistry,  natural  and  moral  philosophy,  his¬ 
tory,  and  geography,  and  daily  exercise  in  Bible 
study.  Armenian  was  studied  under  an  accomplished 
Armenian  professor,  and  Bebek  Seminary  took  an 
honorable  part  in  the  renaissance  of  the  Armenian 
language.  ' 


[18] 


A  POLYTECHNIC  INSTITUTE 


Bebek  Seminary,  guided  by  the  universal  genius  of 
Mr.  Hamlin  (we  must  soon  call  him  Dr.  Hamlin), 
gradually  became  the  busy  center  of  many  industries. 
The  range  of  activity  in  the  school,  with  its  indus¬ 
trial  annexes,  extended  from  carpentry  to  chemistry, 
from  the  making  of  rat-traps  to  mathematics,  from 
sheet-iron  work  to  syllogisms,  from  milling  to  moral 
philosophy,  from  laundry  work  on  a  large  scale  to 
the  cleansing  of  lives,  and  from  making  bread  on  a 
commercial  scale  to  the  making  of  a  superior  quality 
of  men. 

Bebek  Seminary,  like  some  other  institutions  des¬ 
tined  to  greatness,  was  founded  on  faith  rather  than 
on  invested  funds.  No;  it  was  founded  on  faith  and 
works.  Its  founder  had  to  make  it,  if  not  from  noth¬ 
ing,  why,  from  something  next  to  nothing.  He  found 
so  many  difficulties  lying  in  the  path  of  success,  and 
his  methods  of  overcoming  those  difficulties  were  so 
daring  and  original,  that  his  missionary  associates 
at  Constantinople  and  the  officers  of  the  Board  at 
Boston  guardedly  gave  him  permission  to  carry  out 
his  plans,  while  they  stood  watching  with  fear  and 
trembling  as  to  results. 

But  this  Stamboul  Samson,  strong  in  mentality 
rather  than  in  muscle,  never  was  caught  napping  by 
his  enemies,  never  permitted  himself  to  be  bound  by 
them,  never  lost  his  clear  vision,  never  blundered, 


[19] 


never  turned  the  jawbone  of  a  man  against  his  ene¬ 
mies  except  with  victorious  power,  never  toppled 
Bebek  Seminary  in  ruins  upon  the  heads  of  its  in¬ 
mates  ;  but  always,  by  dint  of  patience,  push,  shrewd¬ 
ness,  practical  talent,  and  tireless  energy,  carried  his 
plans  through  to  success. 

Mr.  Hamlin  had  to  make,  or  adapt,  many  of  the 
mental  tools  which  he  used.  For  use  in  the  seminary 
he  had  to  translate  works  on  mental  and  moral  philos¬ 
ophy,  mathematical  works,  and  other  books  used  by 
his  students.  Most  of  the  students  came  to  him 
poorly  clad,  and  they  had  very  little  money  with 
which  to  meet  their  expenses.  They  could  not  sit  at 
his  feet,  properly  clad  and  in  their  right  minds,  with¬ 
out  material  help.  How  should  it  be  brought  about? 

He  did  not  ask  the  Board  for  means  with  which 
to  organize  an  industrial  department,  but  by  per¬ 
sonal  solicitation  he  secured  a  small  sum  of  money 
from  English  mechanics  and  engineers  in  government 
employ,  and,  providing  tools  and  materials,  he  fitted 
up  a  workshop  in  the  basement  of  the  seminary  build¬ 
ing,  where  he  taught  the  students  to  make  sheet-iron 
stoves  and  stovepipe. 

That  percussion  orchestra  in  the  basement  was  far 
from  musical,  but  it  brought  in  the  money.  At  that 
date  there  was  hardly  a  chimney  in  Constantinople, 
except  in  the  kitchens,  but  the  faith  and  works  of 
Mr.  Hamlin  and  his  students  wrought  philanthropic 
results.  Instead  of  saying  to  the  Turks,  “Depart  in 

[20] 


peace,  be  ye  warmed  and  filled,”  they  warmed  and 
filled  them.  There  was  also  reflex  action,  for  by  the 
profits  of  the  industry  the  students  were  warmed  and 
filled.  They  were  able  to  clothe  themselves  neatly, 
and  had  money  for  other  necessary  expenses. 

Neither  did  hand  work  hinder  head  work.  In 
speaking  of  it  Mr.  Hamlin  said:  “I  became  fully 
convinced  that  two  or  three  hours’  work  every  day, 
leaving  Saturday  afternoon  free  for  recreation,  was 
promotive  of  studious  habits,  of  good  morals,  and 
manly  character.” 

ZENOPE 

Like  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  Mr.  Hamlin  thought 
that  he  had  discovered  an  Armenian  Faraday — 
his  name  was  Zenope — who  had  in  him  the  potential 
qualities  of  a  great  chemist.  He  made  such  progress 
in  chemistry  that  Mr.  Hamlin  desired  to  send  him  to 
England,  where  a  wealthy  manufacturer  of  drugs 
had  promised  to  give  Zenope  a  practical  training  in 
chemistry,  and  then  to  establish  him  in  Constanti¬ 
nople  at  the  head  of  a  drug  plant  which  would  sur¬ 
pass  anything  else  in  the  city. 

When  Mr.  Hamlin  told  the  young  Armenian  of  the 
brilliant  opportunities  which  might  be  his  for  the 
accepting,  he  was  affected  even  to  tears,  but  more 
by  the  kindness  of  his  teacher  than  by  the  thought 
that  he  must  count  all  things  but  loss  for  Christ’s 
sake.  Out  of  a  full  heart  and  a  deep  consecration 


[21] 


he  said:  “You  are  my  father,  but  I  cannot  accept 
it.  When  I  knew  Christ  as  my  Saviour  I  made  a 
covenant  with  him  that  if  he  would  help  me  through 
I  would  devote  my  life  as  a  teacher  to  my  poor  coun¬ 
trymen,  the  Armenians.” 

His  teacher  kindly  reasoned  with  him,  tried  to 
show  him  that  by  making  money  as  a  chemist  he 
could  help  his  countrymen,  and  asked  him  to  pray 
over  it.  But  after  thanking  him  warmly  Zenope 
replied,  “My  life  is  fixed;  I  cannot  change.”  He 
had  caught  the  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  his  teacher, 
and  also  of  that  great  Teacher  at  whose  feet  he  had 
learned  lessons  of  self-denying  service;  and  this  Ar¬ 
menian  Faraday  went  to  Aintab  as  a  teacher  on  a 
salary  of  but  little  more  than  twelve  dollars  per 
month,  where  his  labors  prepared  the  way  for  Aintab 
College. 


OVERWHELMING  SUCCESS 

Dr.  Hamlin  and  his  students  gained  such  skill  in 
the  use  of  tools  that  the  Turks  thought  he  must 
be  in  league  with  the  powers  of  darkness.  They 
thought  that  he  was  a  Yankee  Satan,  and  that  his 
workshop  was  filled  with  ancillary  devils.  His  mis¬ 
sionary  associates  at  Constantinople  and  the  officers 
of  the  Board  did  not  share  in  this  opinion,  but  they 
gradually  and  decidedly  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
he  was  leaving  the  work  of  God  too  much  of  the  time 


to  serve  tables  and  save  students  from  walking  in 
rags.  They  told  him  so ;  and  to  bring  matters  to  an 
issue  they  told  him  that  industrial  work  in  the  sem¬ 
inary  must  cease.  It  was  as  though  a  committee 
from  Antioch  had  told  Paul  that  he  must  cease  from 
making  tents.  Dr.  Hamlin  thought  that  hand  and 
head  might  work  in  harmony  for  Christ’s  sake. 
Every  blow  struck  in  the  shop  was  intended  to  build 
up  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  When  he  devoted  part 
of  the  day  to  productive  industry,  it  was  not  that  he 
loved  scholastic  studies  less,  but  that  he  loved  men 
more.  He  wanted  to  cover  the  “looped  and  windowed 
raggedness”  of  his  students,  and  to  provide  the 
means  of  meeting  other  necessary  expenses  while  they 
were  gaining  an  education. 

But  he  caught  the  complainers  with  guile.  He 
saved  his  shop  by  humor,  of  which  he  had  a  large 
share.  He  complied,  on  paper,  with  the  request  to 
close  his  shop, but  said  that  it  would  take  two  or  three 
weeks  to  settle  accounts  and  to  dispose  of  tools  and 
materials.  In  the  same  communication  he  told  his 
associates  at  Constantinople  that  he  had  forty-two 
students,  most  of  whom  were  dependent  on  the  indus¬ 
trial  work  carried  on  in  the  seminary  for  the  means 
of  support.  They  were  in  rags  when  they  came,  but 
they  had  worked  their  way  out  of  rags  to  sartorial 
decency  and  a  good  degree  of  independence.  At  the 
same  time  their  studies  had  been  carried  forward  with 
due  diligence  and  gratifying  success.  He  was  fully 

[  23  ] 


willing,  however,  that  his  associates  should  take  on 
themselves  the  responsibility  of  supplying  the  phys¬ 
ical  needs  of  his  students.  Would  they  accept  the 
responsibility? 

Fancy  the  smile  that  crept  around  the  corners  of 
his  firm  mouth  while  he  was  writing  this  diplomatic 
statement!  Fancy  the  consternation  which  fell  on  his 
associates  when  they  read  it !  He  says,  in  speaking 
of  the  result :  “  I  believe  the  note  was  read  and  abso¬ 
lute  silence  followed,  until  Dr.  Goodell,  who  could 
never  fail  of  seeing  the  humorous  side,  if  there  was 
one,  burst  into  a  laugh,  and  moved  that  Brother 
Hamlin  take  his  own  way  to  keep  out  rags.”  His 
industrial  annexes  were  saved — saved  to  serve,  more 
and  more. 

BREAD  ON  THE  BOSPHORUS 

It  would  require  too  much  time  to  speak  with 
descriptive  fullness  of  the  triumphs  of  Dr.  Hamlin  as 
master  of  many  trades.  We  must  also  guard  against 
leaving  the  impression  on  any  mind  that  his  chief 
success  lay  along  the  line  of  industrial  work.  No; 
he  was  a  Christian  educator,  the  founder  of  what 
has  become  a  great  college,  and  his  industrialism  was 
by-play ;  it  was  the  overplus  of  his  genius,  and  in¬ 
stead  of  turning  him  aside  in  the  least  degree  from 
his  life  work,  it  was  used  by  him  to  help  forward  that 
work.  During  the  Crimean  War  he  might  have  be- 


[24] 


come  a  man  of  large  wealth  if  he  had  consented  to 
take  army  contracts  to  supply  bread  on  a  large 
scale,  but  he  wished  to  give  to  Turkey  such  bread 
as  has  been  supplied  by  Robert  College — bread  for 
the  mind  and  soul. 

However,  he  did  cast  many  thousands  of  pounds 
of  good  wheat  bread  on  the  troubled  waters  of  that 
Eastern  war,  and  he  received  a  speedy  and  helpful 
return.  There  was  not  a  single  steam  flour  mill  in 
Constantinople.  All  the  flour  was  ground  by  horse 
mills  or  by  hand.  Could  he  establish  a  steam  flour 
mill  and  make  good  bread,  all  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  good  of  Bebek  Seminary?  That  small  steam 
engine  which  he  made  when  a  student  in  Bowdoin 
College  came  to  his  mind,  and  seemed  to  beckon  him 
onward.  Was  it  an  ignis  fatuus  which  would  lead 
him  into  a  bog  of  debt,  or  a  Gideon  torch  which 
would  lead  him  on  to  victory?  That  success  led  him 
to  think  that  he  could  repeat  it  on  a  larger  scale,  and 
could  make  his  engine  earn  money  for  missionary 
purposes. 

He  did  not  make  the  engine — Constantinople  could 
not  furnish  him  with  mechanical  appliances  for  so 
great  a  task — but  he  showed  great  enterprise  in  im¬ 
porting  a  steam  engine  and  milling  machinery  from 
the  United  States,  in  casting  part  of  the  pipe  for  the 
steam  connection  in  his  seminary  shop,  in  setting  up 
the  engine  and  the  machinery  by  the  help  of  Ure’s 
Dictionary  of  the  Arts ;  and,  after  labors  which  sur- 


[25] 


passed  some  of  the  legendary  labors  of  Hercules,  he 
was  ready  to  grind  flour. 

To  some  it  may  seem  extravagant  to  say  that 
Florence  Nightingale  and  Cyrus  Hamlin  carried  off 
the  most  enviable  honors  of  the  Crimean  War, 

but  there  is  truth  in  it,  if  it  is  not  the  whole 

truth.  She  brought  skillful  nursing  to  the  wounded 
soldiers  in  the  hospitals  at  Scutari,  and  he  brought 
good  bread.  How  it  was  done  must  be  told  in 
few  words.  He  dug  up  a  “capitulation”  four 

hundred  years  old,  and  rubbing  the  dust  out  of 
its  eyes  he  told  it  to  guard  his  mill.  He 

went  back  to  the  taking  of  Constantinople  by  Meh- 
met  the  Conqueror,  and  discovered  that  a  number 
of  privileges,  called  “capitulations,”  had  then  been 
offered  to  induce  people  to  settle  in  the  captured  city, 
which  became  the  capital  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  and 
this  was  one  of  the  privileges:  that  “every  foreign 
colony  settling  at  the  capital  should  have  the  right 
to  own  its  own  mill  and  bakery  free  from  interference 
from  the  guilds.”  He  was  a  foreigner;  the  commu¬ 
nity  of  students  of  which  he  was  head  was  in  spirit 
a  foreign  colony ;  might  they  not  have  their  own 
mill  and  bakery? 

We  must  not  tell  of  the  skirmishes  and  battles 
which  soon  began  to  hinder  the  progress  of  that 
stolen  march.  But  events  do  go  forward,  even  in 
Turkey,  in  spite  of  official  obstructions,  when  they 
feel  the  push  of  a  masterful  man  like  Dr.  Hamlin ; 


[26] 


and  in  due  time,  having  good  flour,  he  was  ready  to 
add  a  new  trade  to  the  many  which  he  had  then  at 
his  command— that  of  baker. 

Might  not  a  chemist  make  good  bread?  He  had 
the  theory  in  his  head — the  next  thing  was  to  have 
the  art  at  his  finger  ends.  Well,  he  tried  it,  and  this 
is  the  way  that  he  speaks  of  the  result:  “My  bread 
came  out  as  flat  as  a  pancake  and  too  sour  for  mortal 
man  to  eat.  The  next  was  better,  and  the  third  was 
eatable.”  With  the  help  of  a  Grecian  breadmaker 
he  was  soon  selling  bread  so  sweet,  so  palatable,  and 
so  much  above  the  legal  weight  per  loaf  that  “Ham¬ 
lin’s  bread”  became  famous. 

One  day  he  was  invited  to  visit  the  military  hospi¬ 
tal  at  Scutari,  which  was  then  filled  with  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers,  the  physical  wrecks  of  that  ill- 
managed  Crimean  War.  Dr.  Mapleton,  Lord  Rag¬ 
lan’s  chief  physician,  said  to  him,  “Are  you  Hamlin, 
the  baker?” 

“No,  sir,”  replied  Dr.  Hamlin,  “I  am  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hamlin,  an  American  missionary.” 

“That  is  about  as  correct  as  anything  I  get  in 
this  country,”  said  Dr.  Mapleton.  “I  send  for  a 
baker  and  get  a  missionary.  Thank  God,  I  am  not 
a  heathen  that  I  should  want  a  missionary.” 

Before  the  misunderstanding  had  gone  too  far 
Dr.  Hamlin  explained  how  it  was  that  he  was  both 
a  missionary  and  a  maker  of  bread;  and  the  result 
of  the  conference  was  that  he  went  away  with  a 


[27] 


contract  to  supply  the  hospitals  with  a  large  quan¬ 
tity  of  bread  each  day  at  a  profitable  rate  per  pound, 
and  yet  at  a  rate  which  was  fully  one-half  less  than 
the  price  which  the  English  government  had  been 
paying  for  sour  bread  which  the  sick  soldiers  could 
hardly  eat. 

The  quality  of  the  bread  furnished  for  the  hospi¬ 
tals  continued  to  be  first-class,  but  the  quantity  in¬ 
creased  until  it  was  six  thousand  pounds  daily  for 
the  hospitals  alone,  and  later  it  was  double  that 
amount.  Like  the  manna  in  the  wilderness,  Dr. 
Hamlin’s  bread  refused  to  fall  on  the  Sabbath.  When 
this  was  announced  he  seemed  likely  to  lose  his  con¬ 
tract  ;  but,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  souls  of  the 
soldiers  loathed  the  heavy,  sour  bread  which  they  had 
formerly  eaten,  the  hospital  authorities  consented  to 
receive  the  bread  for  Sunday  on  Saturday  evening. 

Florence  Nightingale  introduced  the  bread  in  hos¬ 
pitals  of  which  she  was  the  ministering  angel,  and 
the  demand  for  it  increased  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  mill  of  the  American  missionary  could  grind  only 
a  small  part  of  the  flour  which  his  contract  called 
for.  He  bought  wheat  by  the  shipload,  and  thou¬ 
sands  of  barrels  of  flour  at  a  time. 

It  was  Florence  Nightingale  who  insisted  that 
Dr.  Hamlin’s  bread  should  be  retained  when  Dr. 
Menzies  and  a  dishonest  government  purveyor  tried 
to  break  the  contract  by  spoiling  $500  worth  of  the 
bread  through  fermentation,  and  by  substituting  for 


[28] 


it  bread  made  of  bad  materials,  that  it  might  be  con¬ 
demned  by  the  commissariat  as  Dr.  Hamlin’s  bread. 
The  trick  succeeded  for  a  time,  but  when  such  under¬ 
handed  meanness  was  brought  to  the  knowledge  of 
Lord  Raglan  he  ordered  that  Dr.  Menzies  should  be 
dismissed,  and  that  another  bread  contract  should 
be  made  with  Dr.  Hamlin. 

That  was  one  of  his  successful  “failures,”  for 
the  price  of  flour  rose  one-half  in  the  interval  when 
his  ovens  were  having  a  rest,  thus  saving  him  from 
a  large  loss.  The  contract  was  renewed  on  terms 
favorable  to  Dr.  Hamlin,  and  he  not  only  supplied 
the  hospitals  with  much  more  bread  than  before,  but 
he  added  to  his  industries  an  extensive  trade  in 
roasted  coffee;  he  supplied  food  to  Russian  prison¬ 
ers  held  in  Constantinople ;  he  invented  and  made 
washing  machines  and  washed  the  filthy,  vermin-in¬ 
fested  garments  of  British  soldiers  when  the  Arme¬ 
nian  women  whom  he  had  employed  refused  to  wash 
them  by  hand;  and  he  might  have  had  other  con¬ 
tracts,  aggregating  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
per  year,  if  he  had  been  inclined  to  accept  them. 

But  he  had  gone  to  Constantinople  in  the  service 
of  Christ,  not  to  take  lucrative  army  contracts ;  and 
in  all  his  industrial  activity,  whether  it  was  teaching 
a  poor  Armenian  how  to  make  and  sell  Boston  rat- 
traps  for  the  support  of  himself  and  others,  or  teach¬ 
ing  himself  how  to  temper  mill  picks  for  the  dressing 
of  his  millstones  when  no  one  else  could  or  would 


[29] 


do  it,  or  making  flour,  making  bread,  making  stoves 
— diligently  doing  a  score  of  things — he  was  all  the 
time  about  his  Master’s  business. 

And  his  Master  received  all  the  profits.  Part 
of  the  returns  were  turned  into  near-by  channels, 
for  the  support  of  Bebek  Seminary  and  its  stu¬ 
dents  ;  but  with  the  surplus  of  $25,000  he  built  thir¬ 
teen  churches  for  the  American  Board  in  various 
parts  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 

Indeed,  he  gave  for  the  work  of  the  Board  more 
money  than  he  received  as  salary  during  the  entire 
period  of  his  service.  Such  was  not  his  intention 
when  he  went  to  Constantinople,  but  his  unique  per¬ 
sonality,  following  the  leadings  of  Providence,  had 
made  him  a  self-sustaining  missionary.  But,  more 
than  that,  he  enabled  scores  of  young  men  to  gain 
an  education  who  never  could  have  attained  to  that 
blessing  had  he  not  taught  them  to  help  themselves 
by  various  handicrafts.  It  is  said  by  those  who  have 
traveled  widely  in  the  Turkish  Empire  that  here  and 
there,  often  in  very  humble  houses,  the  one  picture 
hanging  on  the  wall  shows  the  strong  features  of 
Dr.  Hamlin,  and  that  if  he  is  not  revered  as  Saint 
Hamlin  in  those  houses,  he  is  remembered  as  the  wise 
friend  and  generous  helper  of  many  students  who 
since  that  time  have  done  the  work  of  men.  Bebek 
Seminary  came  to  an  end  as  an  institution,  but  as  a 
quickening  force  no  one  can  estimate  the  extent  of 
its  work. 


[30] 


In  1860  it  was  decided  to  remove  the  seminary  to 
Marsovan,  and  Dr.  Hamlin’s  direct  connection  with 
the  American  Board  came  to  an  end,  that  he  might 
devote  his  energies  to  the  large  work  of  founding  a 
college  at  Constantinople. 

ROBERT  COLLEGE 

For  more  than  a  year  before  the  removal  of 
Bebek  Seminary  to  Marsovan,  Dr.  Hamlin  had  been 
planning  his  next  and  greatest  campaign,  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  a  high  grade  college  at  Constantinople. 
Then  began  a  ten  years’  war  with  the  Turks  for  the 


ROBERT  COLLEGE — FROM  THE  REAR 

[31  ] 


possession  of  a  good  site  for  the  institution,  for  he 
began  to  search  for  a  site  in  1859,  and  the  corner 
stone  of  the  college  building  was  not  laid  until  July  4, 
1869.  He  earnestly  coveted  the  best  site,  a  com¬ 
manding  elevation  overlooking  the  Bosphorus,  not 
far  from  the  city ;  but  “the  owner  would  not  treat  for 
it  at  any  price.”  The  Turks  were  as  little  in  favor 
of  an  American  college  overlooking  Constantinople 
as  they  would  have  been  of  permitting  the  plant¬ 
ing  of  an  American  fortress  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Dardanelles.  A  college  in  the  air,  as  the  dream  of 
Dr.  Hamlin,  they  could  not  prevent,  but  they  were 
determined  to  keep  his  college  in  the  air,  if  possible. 
For  nearly  ten  years  he  walked  about  Stamboul,  not 
to  tell  her  towers,  mark  her  bulwarks,  and  consider 
her  palaces,  but  that  he  might  gain  legal  possession 
of  some  spot  where  he  could  erect  a  tower  of  truth 
from  the  top  of  which  better  things  might  be  seen  for 
Turkey  than  from  any  minaret  of  the  capital  city. 

Twenty-three  sites  were  examined  and  abandoned 
as  unsuitable  or  unattainable.  The  twenty-fourth 
site  was  purchased,  “not  as  entirely  satisfactory,  but 
as  on  the  whole  the  best  attainable.”  But  before 
building  operations  began,  the  original  site  which 
Dr.  Hamlin  had  tried  to  purchase  some  two  years 
before,  the  commanding  site  on  the  heights  of  Ru- 
meli-Hissar,  was  offered  to  him  at  a  reasonable  price. 
He  thanked  God,  took  courage,  bought  the  site,  and 
said,  “Let  us  arise  and  build.” 


[32] 


But  when  preparations  for  building  began,  an 
officer  of  the  Sublime  Porte  appeared  on  the  scene 
and  politely  said  to  Dr.  Hamlin,  “Some  formali¬ 
ties  are  still  not  completed,  and  you  must  wait  until 
they  are.”  When  the  officer  was  asked  how  long  it 
would  take  to  complete  the  formalities,  he  said,  “Per¬ 
haps  a  couple  of  weeks.”  But  in  Turkey,  of  making 
many  obstructions  there  is  no  end,  and  much  waiting 
becomes  a  weariness  to  the  flesh.  The  weeks  of  wait¬ 
ing  ran  on  into  years,  until  ten  years  passed  by  be¬ 
fore  the  site  originally  selected,  and  afterwards 
purchased,  could  be  used.  It  belonged  to  the  college 
legally,  but  the  Seraglio  would  not  give  Dr.  Hamlin 
permission  to  begin  to  build. 

But  the  Sublime  Porte  could  not  thus  defeat  the 
man  from  Maine.  He  retreated  to  the  unused  build¬ 
ing  formerly  occupied  by  Bebek  Seminary,  and  there, 
with  a  force  of  teachers,  he  opened  Robert  College 
in  1863,  so  called  because  Christopher  R.  Robert, 
of  New  York,  gave  considerable  sums  of  money  for 
the  establishment  of  the  institution. 

It  would  make  too  long  a  story  to  tell  what  Dr. 
Hamlin  did  for  Robert  College  during  the  seventeen 
years  that  he  gave  to  it  the  best  work  of  his  life ; 
how  he  journeyed  many  thousands  of  miles  to  raise 
funds  for  it  in  England  and  in  the  United  States ; 
how,  during  the  eight  years  that  the  college  did  its 
work  within  the  insufficient  premises  of  the  former 
Bebek  Seminary,  the  attendance  increased  until  there 


were  scores  of  applicants  who  could  not  be  received 
for  lack  of  room;  how  the  visit  of  Admiral  Farragut 
to  Constantinople  in  1868  was  construed  by  Sultan 
Abdul  Aziz  as  a  possible  threat  that  the  United 
States  would  use  force  in  the  interests  of  Robert  Col¬ 
lege,  and  an  imperial  rescript  was  hastily  granted, 
placing  the  property  and  rights  of  the  college  on  a 
secure  basis;  how,  in  1871,  the  college  moved  into 
the  fine  building  which  Dr.  Hamlin  had  planned  and 
erected  for  it  on  the  heights  of  Rumeli-Hissar ;  and 
how,  after  toiling  for  the  establishment  of  the  college 
for  seventeen  years  like  a  Hercules,  and  teaching  in 
it  like  a  Socrates,  Dr.  Hamlin’s  connection  with  it 
came  to  a  sudden  end.  No  one  knows  just  why,  ex¬ 
cept,  perhaps,  that  two  masterful  men,  Dr.  Hamlin 
and  Mr.  Robert,  came  to  a  point  where  they  could 
not  work  in  full  harmony. 

STILL  PRESSING  FORWARD 

His  connection  with  Robert  College  came  to  an  end 
in  1877,  and  was  one  of  the  severest  trials  of  his  life. 
He  could  have  died  for  Robert  College  with  joy,  if 
his  death  would  have  advanced  its  interests,  but  to 
live  apart  from  an  institution  into  which  he  had  put 
so  much  work  and  about  which  his  brightest  earthly 
hopes  clustered — how  could  he  adjust  himself  to 
that?  He  coveted  work,  work  for  which  he  was  emi¬ 
nently  fitted,  and  in  which  he  found  joy.  Leopold 


[34] 


says :  44  Wouldst  thou  discover  Nature’s  true  path  to 
happiness  ?  Listen  to  her  first  command :  Labor ! 
The  hours  fly  swiftly  to  him  who  has  daily  occupation, 
and  lifetime  creeps  slowly  away  with  the  idle.” 

All  his  life  long  Dr.  Hamlin  had  found  joy  in 
work,  in  bringing  things  to  pass,  and  for  seventeen 
years  he  had  been  doing  something  which  was  worthy 
of  the  best  that  was  in  him,  and  had  received  his 
best.  He  thought  that  it  was  a  work  which,  for  a 
time,  might  tempt  a  soul  to  forego  the  bliss  of  heaven. 
The  writer  heard  him  say  at  a  meeting  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Board  that  the  time  of  his  departure  from  this 
world  was  at  hand;  and  that  after  entering  the  New 
Jerusalem  and  looking  at  the  glories  of  the  heavenly 
city  for  a  short  time,  he  would  like  to  make  a  straight 
shoot  for  Constantinople. 

It  was  easy  to  speak  thus  to  a  sympathetic  audi¬ 
ence  when  the  disappointments  of  life  lay  beneath 
him,  and  he  was  44  close  upon  the  shining  table-lands 
to  which  our  God  himself  is  moon  and  sun,”  but  to 
be  banished  from  Constantinople  and  from  Robert 
College  when  he  had  yet  about  twenty-five  years  to 
live  on  earth,  still  full  of  life  and  activity — how 
could  he  endure  it? 

How  nobly  he  did  endure  it  his  after-life  abun¬ 
dantly  testified,  but  in  this  sketch  only  a  few  para¬ 
graphs  can  be  given  to  the  narration. 

Though  cast  down  by  what  might  almost  be  termed 
his  eviction  from  Robert  College,  Dr.  Hamlin  evi- 

[[  35] 


dentlj  was  not  destroyed.  With  admirable  resiliency 
of  spirit  he  wrote  his  book,  “Among  the  Turks,”  in 
the  first  three  months  after  passing  through  what  he 
termed  one  of  the  great  “ defeats”  of  his  life — the 
one  just  mentioned — but  in  that  book  one  cannot 
detect  a  single  note  of  defeat.  Indeed,  he  dipped  his 
pen  in  sunshine ;  and  down  to  the  close  of  his  life  his 
letters  and  his  literary  productions  glowed  with  de¬ 
lightful  humor  and  sparkled  with  brilliant  wit.  The 
book  by  which  he  will  be  longest  remembered,  “My 
Life  and  Times,”  is  one  of  the  raciest  and  most  read¬ 
able  autobiographies  in  American  literature.  , 

Because  this  preacher  was  wise,  he  still  taught  the 
people  knowledge.  Not  only  did  he  find  out  many  ac¬ 
ceptable  words,  even  words  of  truth,  words  that  are, 
as  Lowell  puts  it,  like  nails  in  temple  walls  to  hang 
armor  on,  but  for  nearly  a  decade  of  the  remaining 
years  of  his  life  two  institutions  of  learning  profited 
by  his  gifts  as  teacher  and  administrator.  For  three 
years  he  filled  the  chair  of  theology  in  Bangor  Theo¬ 
logical  Seminary,  and  for  five  years  he  was  president 
of  Middlebury  College  in  Vermont,  lifting  that  insti¬ 
tution  out  of  debt  and  discouragement  to  an  assured 
position  of  strength  and  usefulness. 

The  last  fifteen  years  of  his  life  on  earth  he  dwelt 
in  his  own  house  in  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  still 
preaching  from  time  to  time  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
teaching  those  things  which  concern  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  with  all  confidence,  no  man  forbidding  him, 


[36] 


but  many  listening  to  him  with  great  pleasure  and 
profit. 

God  was  pleased  to  take  him  to  himself,  full  of 
years  and  honors,  without  the  weary  waiting  of  lin¬ 
gering  illness.  His  friends  brought  abundant  laurels 
while  he  was  yet  living.  On  his  eighty-ninth  birthday 
some  twenty-five  of  his  friends  in  Boston,  including 
officers  of  the  American  Board  and  Woman’s  Board, 
tendered  to  him,  his  wife,  and  his  daughter  Emma,  a 
luncheon  at  the  Bellevue  Hotel,  Boston,  and  there, 
around  the  table,  they  praised  him  and  his  work  so 
heartily  and  sincerely  that  his  boyish  propensity  to 
blush  easily  came  back  to  him  and  made  him  delight¬ 
fully  uncomfortable,  but  did  not  tie  his  tongue  nor 
quench  his  humor.  In  June  of  the  same  year  he  was 
guest  of  honor  at  the  centennial  of  Middlebury  Col¬ 
lege,  where  he  made  an  address,  was  greeted  with 
great  applause,  and  the  nearly  nonagenarian  ex¬ 
president,  scorning  the  offered  help  of  horses  and 
wheels,  marched  in  the  procession  with  the  tread  of 
a  veteran  soldier. 

Indeed,  he  was  able  to  march  until  he  met  death. 
On  August  7,  1900,  he  attended  a  family  reunion  of 
the  Hamlin  and  Washburn  families,  twenty  members 
of  four  generations  being  present,  and  on  the  next 
day  he  attended  the  celebration  of  Old  Home  Day  at 
Portland,  Maine.  He  was  the  last  speaker  that  even¬ 
ing  in  the  Second  Parish  Church,  of  which  he  became 
a  member  in  his  apprentice  days  and  where  he  had 


[37] 


been  ordained  to  the  work  of  Christian  missions 
sixty-three  years  before.  He  returned  after  the 
meeting  to  the  house  of  his  nephew,  Cyrus  H.  Farley, 
where  he  was  to  be  guest ;  but  on  ascending  the  stairs 
he  was  seized  with  severe  pains,  the  last  struggles  of 
a  brave  but  enfeebled  heart,  and  within  half  an  hour 
he  was  guest  with  God  on  high,  no  more  to  go  out 
forever. 


PROSPICE 

From  the  white  summit  of  his  ninety  years, 

He  bravely  looked  on  life — behind,  before:  — 
The  Bosphorus,  though  once  a  distant  shore, 
Seemed  near  at  hand;  and  all  his  former  fears. 

His  many  toils,  his  “failures,”  and  his  tears, 

Were  inter-shot  with  sunshine,  more  and  more. 
Until,  bow-like  and  bright,  they  arched  him  o’er. 
Prophetic  of  his  life’s  unspent  arrears. 


Then,  looking  forward  to  that  blessed  land 
Where  Love  abides,  and  Faith  is  lost  in  sight, 
Trusting  in  God,  he  took  Death’s  offered  hand, 
And  passed  into  that  land  of  endless  light, 
Where  all  his  powers  shall  find  such  full  employ 
That  life  will  bring  to  him  unceasing  joy. 


[38] 


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[40] 


